Ryan Newberry qualifies for the NCAA Division III National Championships

The wrestling team was third (out of 13 teams) today at the 2005 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Meet hosted by Manchester (Ind.) College. Leading the way for the Fighting Comets was junior Ryan Newberry (South Haven). He won the 184-pound championship and advances to the NCAA Division III National Championships next Friday and Saturday, March 4-5, at St. Olaf (Minn.) College.

Olivet tallied 94.5 points to finish behind Wabash (Ind.) College (137) and Thiel (Pa.) College (99.5). Millikin (Ill.) University was fourth (89.5) and College of Mt. St. Joseph (Ohio) was fifth (85.0).

Newberry improved to 27-7 on the season as he finished the day with a 3-0 record, including a 2-1 win over Will Clarke from Wabash in the championship match. In the match, he received an escape and stalling point in the second period. Clarke picked-up an escape point during the third period.

Junior 165-pounder Mike Andrews (Swartz Creek) is the Midwest Region’s first alternate for the national championships. After losing his first match of the day, he battled back with four straight wins to claim a “true” second-place finish. If the second-place wrestler and third-place wrestler had not wrestled against each other during the day, a “true” second-place match takes place after the championship rounds between those two wrestlers. Andrews pinned Michael Sanchez from Case Western Reserve (Ohio) University in the “true” second-place match.

In addition, the Comets claimed two third-place finishes by junior 157-pounder Mike Daubenmeyer (Macomb/Lutheran North) and freshman 197-pounder Aaron Stewart (Dansville).